The Canon PowerShot G9 is a nice little (brick) of a camera for infrared, converted for me by maxmax.com. However, one of the G9’s irritations is that Canon’s Digital Photo Professional won’t operate on the CR2 (RAW) files produced by the G9, and Adobe Camera Raw seems to be incapable of using the “as shot” white balance properly. So that leaves the nuisance problem of having to use Canon’s consumer-grade (and incredibly sluggish) ImageBrowser software, which does a decent job, but not a very good job at reducing digital noise while maintaining detail.

The self-defeating decision to offer 12 megapixels in a point and shoot tiny-sensor camera is not limited to Canon, and those pixels should be discounted by at least 60% when compared to my Canon EOS 5D-IR, but that’s par for the course with all point and shoot digital cameras, including the petite Fuji F30, which doesn’t offer the flexibility of the G9, nor RAW file support. It’s a darn shame the G9 isn’t offered with the same size sensor, but in a 6MP version. Very little would be lost, and a great deal gained in overall image quality. What’s next, 24MP pinky-sized sensors? Yuck...

Windy Hill (below) is a landmark in this area due to its grassy expanse devoid of trees, with the hills to the north and south being tree-covered. Please contact me if you know the geologic or environmental conditions that cause the lack of trees, and I’ll happily share that with my readers.

Windy Hill, near Portola Valley, CA
(Canon PowerShot G9-IR infrared)

The false-color look is overused with infrared, but in this case I prefer it over black and white with quick-and-dirty processing, though black and white might offer a superior result with additional effort—not worth it for this documentary photo.

This is an ideal time of year to photograph landscapes in infrared in California—the trees are leafing out and the new foliage positively glows in infrared. Too bad I’m cooped up in the office every day...